I am not made for the cold, and Michigan is freezing. Museum tours provide a fun escape without having to brave the elements.

Today we are visiting the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. Their website offers tours of multiple exhibits, starting with The Wright Brothers.

The Wright Brothers & the Invention of the Aerial Age

I thought I had a learned everything about the Wright brothers from all my trips to Greenfield Village, but I was wrong.

I learned that the Wright brothers marketed their plane to the military. In 1908 in Fort Meyer, Virginia, Orville Wright flew into the air with Lt. Thomas Selfridge. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and they crashed. Orville suffered major injuries and was hospitalized for 7 weeks. Lt Selfridge fractured his skull and died 3 hours later. Selfridge Air National Guard Base is named after him.

I also learned that a piece of the Wright Flyer went to the moon. It was placed in the Lunar Module of Apollo 11 to symbolically link the first flight with the first trip into space.

Homeschool Tie-In

My favorite Wright Brothers homeschool assignment asks children to read 3 different accounts of the Wright Brothers 1st flight at Kitty Hawk and chart the differences. I like this because it forces children to question the accuracy of what they read. My dad used to say that there are 3 sides to every story, A, B & the truth, and this assignment illustrates how perspective and bias can change a story. It’s designed for kids in 3rd-5th grade but could be modified for higher grade levels.

Destination Moon

The next exhibit in our Virtual Tour is Destination Moon. It’s a great place to learn about the space race between the U.S. and Russia, along with a lot of other fun information about our explorations in space.

I was very aware of the U.S. sending Ham the Chimpanzee into space before human astronauts. You can see them in a bunch of older cartoons. I was less aware of the adorable Russian space dogs, Belka & Strelka. I totally want to read the Book with Hannah now.

Homeschool Tie-In

You can do an entire unit on the moon landing and get your kids excited about our space program. After all, we are expected to have humans on the moon again in September of 2026.

We All Fly

We All Fly is an exhibit that illustrates all the areas of our lives where flight plays a part. When I think of planes, I think of big commercial flights taking me somewhere fun. I forget about crop dusters, medical helicopters and delivery drones. In such a short time, human flight has become an everyday part of our lives.

Homeschool Tie-In

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis put out a 68 page download on Flight Adventures . Kids will get a hands on lesson in model building, be able to test the controls and learn the importance of mathematics in computing weight and lift.

Nation of Speed

From boat races, to NASCAR, to Nukes. The Nation of Speed tour has a little bit of everything.

Homeschool Tie-In

Explore a lesson in physics and learn how to calculate Speed. Great high school resource.

One World Connected

In the One World Connected exhibit, we learn how satellites and technology keep us connected. I’m most curious about the Long-Now clock that is supposed to chime every 100 years with a different melody. What are the songs? Who picked them? I have questions.

Exploring the Planets

The Exploring the Planets gallery takes you on a tour of our solar system and beyond. Learn about Goldilocks planets that may have water like Earth. Or discover rings of not only Saturn, but Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter as well.

Homeschool Tie-In

You can teach the Solar system as you take this virtual tour. The above lesson also goes into phases of the moon and space exploration.

Early Flight

I went through the exhibits in order on the website, although they don’t make sense to my brain. I think I should have done them in chronological order. That would have put Early Flight as the very first exhibit.

I enjoyed learning about the gliders and balloons. I’m so used to planes being in the air, that I’d forgotten how many lives were lost in the development of that technology.

Homeschool Tie-In

The Glorious Flight is an informative lesson for early elementary schoolers about Louis Bleriot’s flight across the English Channel. It adds a fun paper airplane activity to help keep kids engaged.

America by Air

This is the last exhibit in our virtual tour. In America by Air we see how our current airline industry developed from small planes that carried less than a dozen wealthy people to the huge jets we use today. We also learn about flight safety and airports.

Homeschool Tie-In

If your high schoolers are considering a career in aviation you should check out the You Can Fly lesson from AOPA.

Thank you so much for exploring and learning with me today. I hope you had fun.

Kristie